


Rosetta Stone: Nathan MacKinnon edition

by clawth



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-10
Updated: 2020-02-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:41:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22642003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clawth/pseuds/clawth
Summary: Is the thrill of the chase, that he has no idea he's partaking in, really even worth it if he can’t read the subject of the chase? Ask Andre.
Relationships: Andre Burakovsky/Nathan MacKinnon, others implied
Comments: 5
Kudos: 91





	Rosetta Stone: Nathan MacKinnon edition

Crunch. Right into the boards just to the side of the goal net. The cold boards shake and wobble but don’t give. Obviously they don’t give way as Andre slides down between them and MacKinnon to the ice. He grimaces and watches as MacKinnon skates away unfazed.

“Hey!” He reaches up to right his helmet. “Hey! What the hell,” he grumbles when he realizes it’s having no effect to call after Nate. It’s fucking practice. It is. There’s no reason for a hit that hard. No need to make his head bounce off the boards. Save that for the other team.

Since MacKinnon clearly isn’t circling back to explain the hit, Andre finally gets himself together to get up. He stands on his skates and arches his back to try and shake off any lingering sting from running into the boards.

Andre hadn’t noticed that someone else skated over to him. He was too busy fixated on what the fuck ever Nate’s problem was. It’s practice! “Hey,” Andre finally looks to see who it is. Gabe. “Don’t take it personal,” he says in a gentle tone. A tone that gets Andre to shoot a look at him. “He gets carried away sometimes and doesn’t realize how hard he hits. Even in practice.” Another pause. “Even if you don’t have the puck.”

But still. Andre didn’t really deserve that. Maybe he’s making a big deal out of it now, but. Yeah, okay, he’ll let it go this time. He swears out loud in Swedish.

“You know, I can understand you, right?” Gabe tilts his head.

He shrugs. So, he called Nate a bitch and sort of forgot that Gabe was there. There are worse things. Probably.

Gabe gives a pat to Andre’s head, well helmet, and smiles at him. “You know, you could always do the same thing back. It’d be equal. What is it they say? Uh, eye for an eye?”

This time Andre tilts his head. “Doesn’t that end with everyone blind?”

Another shrug. “I think it’s supposed to be in moderation.”

Andre snorts. Moderation? Sure. But perhaps Gabe does have a point. Something for Andre to think about. He skates back to the bench. Oh goddamn it, Landeskog. Yes, he’s subtle but every time Andre starts to see more and more of a reason why Gabe is captain.

But the rest of practice, Andre isn’t on the ice against Nate. Or maybe Nate isn’t on the ice against Andre. There’s a bit of Andre that wonders if Gabe had anything to do with it. Him and his moderation. Perhaps he’s trying to make sure the whole team doesn’t lose eyes or something. Okay, right. He’s doing his captain thing.

Honestly, Andre isn’t even worried about that anymore and he’s not even concerned about the hit. He’s just more curious about MacKinnon than he was before. He’s played against him before, crafty and dodgey, but that’s how people who see the game well are. He knows that. And yes, playing with him on the same team is different. Andre knows it’s much better to be on this side of the ice than against him. If superpowers were real, hockey is Nate’s.

Someone stands in front of him while he's working on untying his skates. Annoyed he looks up to see Gabe again. “You're drooling,” he mumbles.

Andre sits up and rights himself, eyebrow cocked. “No? For what?”

Gabe steps out of the way so Andre can look past him to see Nate. Oh. What? He wasn't drooling. He was just thinking and maybe it just so happens that where he was staring is where MacKinnon was getting his gear off.

“I wasn't.”

But Gabe doesn't seem like he believes that. “You know, you could talk to him. He's not as scary as Mikko makes him out to seem.”

Mikko. Andre glances to him before back up to Gabe. “I'm not afraid of him. But there's nothing to talk about. It was just a normal practice.”

A smirk, but Gabe does step away. Still, Andre isn't sure what to make of that either. He feels like there's another motive at play but he just can't see it yet. Is Gabe even that type of person?

Yes, Andre is newer to the team, but he has pretty good reads on most of them. They hang out, they get take out food together, stream bad TV together, send each other texts when someone else can't sleep. All the team bonding stuff.

The whole thing has been new. Andre has only known one team since he's been in the league. He does miss his old team, but he knows this is the way of hockey. Nothing is wrong with this team either. Just different people. A bonus is that the captain also speaks Swedish.

\--

The next practice, Andre has his eyes on Nathan. He won’t be getting checked into the boards again. Not like that, not from Nate. Andre is a little edgier than he usually is during practice. He even bares his teeth a few times. But he’s been on the team long enough for everyone to just think he’s being himself and funny and sometimes he just shows his teeth. Which again, is a bit of a quirk of his. There’s some term coined like Andre smirk or smile. He doesn’t know, he just knows he’s him and does his things. Term or not, he’ll continue to do what he’s been doing.

But as of right now, his focus isn’t on himself. It’s on Nate. And well, Nate is actually mesmerizing to watch. He focuses in on the puck and everyone knows it’s coming and they still can’t wrestle the puck away from him. He is a bit of a terror. Andre does catch himself watching Nate instead of playing against Nate. There’s only a couple times that happens. And after catching himself, that's all it takes before Nathan ends up shooting the puck.

Andre tries to make it a point to match up against Nate. At first, his linemates give a small look at him, but since he insists, so they let him go. Might as well let him try anyway.

The face off doesn't go too well and MacKinnon definitely beats him, cleanly. Which almost gives Andre a pause, but he’s too busy on a mission to chase Nate to the boards. However, Nate doesn’t go close enough to the boards. In fact, Nate slides up the middle of the ice and Andre, he makes it his own point that that’s his man to defend against.

He races up behind Nate, listening to sounds for where the puck is to be aware. But that’s not his play, Nate is his play. He watches as MacKinnon look over his shoulder to scout out where the puck is, where the defense is as he continues to push toward the goal net. He swings around behind the net and this is Andre’s chance. He’s been keeping up for the most part. Finally! He crashes into him in the corner. He keeps pressed against him for a few extra seconds and then finally lets him go.

But. But Nate only gives a little bit of a struggle before Andre releases him. When he does, Nate shimmies his body to make sure the gear is still sitting well on him and he goes back into the play. Andre. Well, Andre didn’t find any of that as satisfying as it should have been. Nathan just skated away! What the hell? Did he even notice? How can he eye for an eye if Nate didn’t even notice?

This is not the outcome that Andre wanted. Nate didn’t even react. He didn’t do anything. And really, Andre is wondering if he even felt it. Even if he barely felt it, which he should have, it was a good hit, so why doesn’t it seem like he cares?

Andre glances around to see if anyone else had noticed. Everyone else seems to be focused on puck play at mid ice. So, it wasn’t obvious enough. That’s fine. Andre will just have to repeat it. But harder.

However, Andre does hit Nathan into the boards another two times, but it’s the same thing. Nate doesn’t seem to notice. The last one, Andre made sure to pin him a little longer. That didn't work either, he shrugged him off.

This is stupid. Andre skates over to the bench and leans against the half-boards in front of Gabe. “You said-”

Gabe is already shaking his head. “I didn't say anything.”

“What?”

“What?”

Andre slightly tilts his head. “You said…” He waits for Gabe to cut him off again but this time he doesn't. “That maybe I should board him.”

Again, Gabe shakes his head. “I don't remember that. I didn't say that.”

Now Andre’s jaw drops open. “ What? No, you did. You did. You said that phrase. The eyes.”

This time Gabe shrugs. ”I say a lot of things-”

“No, this isn't a lot of things. You- you…” He eyes Gabe for an extra moment. “You set me up. You knew he wouldn't care or feel it or notice. Whichever. You knew.”

Gabe has his head tilted and eyebrow raised. He's curious about what Andre is saying, but he's also paying attention to someone else skating up. “Hmm. Did I?”

Which Andre can tell he's distracted. “Yes! You did.”

“What trouble?” The voice from behind Andre, deep and thick with accent. It becomes apparent what Gabe was focusing on. “Sound hothead. Swede fight like faerie fight.” Nikita.

Gabe smiles at Nikita and finally Andre turns to at least acknowledge him. “Not a fight. He's just flustered.”

“Why? I see he hit Dogg three times.” Though Nikita's English is much better than before, it's still a little awkward and stilted. “It Macky?”

Gabe just continues to smile at Nikita. Another moment and Nikita gives a nod and smiles back.

“What? What is this?” Andre asks as he glances between the two. “Hey, I don't know what mental information you're getting from him, but I just wanted to hit him back for last practice. He hit me into the boards too. Did you see that then?”

Nikita shrugs, but still seems to have that smile linger. “He hit. He excite by game, even if just practice.”

“Yeah, but…” He trails off. Because this whole time, he was sure it wasn't a big deal to him. He can take hits. He's gotten in fights with friends, thrown punches with said friends even. This is hardly different. But now and only now, he realizes that it's a big deal to him. For a reason he can't understand. It didn't hurt, so that isn't where this idea of a big deal is coming from. As much as sometimes it does hurt to get hit, it also hurts to hit. But those are pains that Andre is used to. None of this is fueled by any of that, that much he knows.

He isn't sure if either Gabe or Nikita say something to him, he's busy. Where is all this coming from? Andre thinks a little more on it. He replays each of the hits and the fact that Nathan, he got up and away like he wasn't bothered. Like there was no hit. Like Andre was nothing. Oh. Perhaps that's it. He wouldn't go far enough to say he has an ego, but. Well he should at least matter.

There's a bunch of clapping and Andre shakes his head to pull out of his thoughts. He glances around, Gabe is staring at him and Nikita claps once more.

They exchange looks at each other. “Are you okay?” Finally Gabe asks.

Andre blinks and just looks at Gabe, while Gabe just waits for an answer. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

Again, Gabe exchanges glances with Nikita. An eyebrow raised, and eyebrow lowered and Andre swears they’re speaking some language. It’s weird and interesting and cool and what all at the same time.

He doesn’t understand and maybe he shouldn’t. In a slight huff that he’d never admit that he actually huffed, Andre skates off away from these two psychic weirdos. Andre has had enough practice for today. He isn’t cutting it too short, maybe by five minutes. That’s not so bad. And well, Gabe didn’t call after him when he went down the hallway to the locker room, so it’s Gabe’s fault if anything.

Andre is busy getting his gear off and taking his time at doing so. He has his upper body pads off and he’s leaning back on his bench. He sighs and runs his hand through his sweat matted hair. A curl or two bounces back to hang down by his temple.

He straightens up when he hears skates clacking on the ground. He looks to see who it is. Oh, right, of course. It’s Nathan. Andre half wonders if he should even engage because this is probably something set up by Gabe. But the more Andre watches Nate, the less he thinks that. Nate doesn’t even glance over, he looks lost in thought actually. Focused on something else as he walks to his locker. He just takes a seat and starts untying his skates.

Still, Andre isn’t completely convinced that Gabe didn’t set this up. He’s not sure the exact powers that Gabe possesses, but it’s possible that Nate would actually listen to him. He isn’t sure how strong Gabe’s hold as captain goes, especially over Nate. It hasn’t exactly crossed Andre’s mind that Nathan MacKinnon is a mystery, but that’s a very good way to put it. Put it in a file for later, of course. Not that he’s the one and only mysterious man of every boy’s dreams or anything. But. Here Andre is, and he’s staring at him, watching him and his every move. Because what could he possibly do next?

It should be obvious. He’s trying to get out of his hockey gear and starting with his skates. Andre bites his lip as he watches. At this point, he realizes he’s watching. He looks away, down to his lap. Did Nate notice too? Wow, how silly of Andre. All of this feels very school girl of him. He sighs to himself. This whole situation, how did he even get stuck here like this?

He looks up and, well, apparently he didn’t just sigh to himself. Nate is looking over at him. Maybe he heard him. Andre quietly looks back but he gets the feeling that Nate is looking through him or maybe past him. But Andre can’t really handle the feeling of awkwardness right now. So to break this artificial ice he’s put up, he makes a face. A face where the one side of his mouth curls up and shows his upper teeth and the rest of his mouth looks like a frown. It appears that Nate just blinks at him and his expression. He doesn’t even say anything, he just goes back to taking off his hockey shorts, followed by his upper body pads.

Meanwhile, Andre, he looks away from Nathan and anything around him. That was, well Andre doesn’t know what it was, but strange is pretty close. He doesn’t know why so much of this is making him feel like a bumbling giddy school girl, but it does. He doesn’t understand what’s even going on. Nathan is the only other one in here, Andre only assumes it’s before practice has ended and that’s just weird. Nate almost always stays after practice is over. But he’s right across the locker room. It’s just strange.

Gabe.

Clearly, Gabe is the one to blame here. That’s become obvious. So instead of indulging Gabe, Andre just sticks to his own after practice routine. He goes to shower off and doesn’t pay any mind to anyone else or any body else. He makes his way back to his locker and dresses, only focusing on his own locker and his own belongings. The last thing to add is his beanie.

After he puts his beanie on to cover his wet, curly hair, he packs his things and leaves. Whatever it was Gabe had planned, it won’t work. That is, if Gabe had planned it at all.

\--

The next game, during pregame warm ups, Andre has his eyes out for Gabe, Nikita, and Nate now. He wonders if somehow it’ll be the whole team he has to look out for. And if it does become the whole team, is that just how this team works? Team dynamics are weird and strange and Andre isn’t interested in initiation. Are they even allowed to do that? He’s pretty sure the league frowns upon that. However, if they don’t know…

But Andre doesn’t feel that on edge. Everyone is their normal self, doing their normal ritual. Nikita, he’s going up behind the pregame interviewee, and messing with their helmet by tipping it forward. And Gabe, skating around and then getting a puck on the blade of his stick before launching it into the air and then catching it back on the blade. And finally, Nate, who is hunched over trying to perfect his stick handling with his own puck.

Usually Andre skates a few laps. Usually Andre does a couple stretches. Usually Andre doesn’t take notice of everyone else. At this point, he’s locked in and ready for a game. But this time, this time it’s different. He’s going to change that.

Andre gets his wits about him and skates toward Nate. He hunches over and holds his stick horizontal across his thighs, like he’s honing in for a faceoff. He continues to skate until his helmet hits Nate’s helmet. He presses harder for a full headbutt, to make sure Nate gets the idea, to make sure he can’t ignore this.

He must notice, since he stops puck handling and sets his stick horizontal across his thighs too. Andre can feel Nate nudge back against his head. Andre doesn’t really know how Nate is taking this, but since he isn’t pulling away, neither is Andre. Not yet, anyway. There seems to be a couple long seconds and Andre gets a little weirded out. Nate isn’t doing anything, he’s just letting this happen. How could this be usual? Is it even usual? Andre doesn’t know. How does Nate kill someone? Has he ever? Andre is suddenly getting a lot of questions about Nate.

Finally, Andre does pull away and he straightens upright. Nate seems to stand upright as well. He passively looks at Andre, like he’s expecting something. But Andre doesn’t say anything, he just watches Nate back. There’s something about Nate’s face. Something that Andre doesn’t think he’s seen before. A type of softness in his features and Andre is staring for an extra moment or a few. His mouth parts like he’s going to say something or maybe he gasped and hadn’t noticed it yet.

It must have been too much time passing for Nate because his head lowers and he’s back to puck handling. But that doesn’t bother Andre. Not at all. Back to the pregame warm ups. Andre goes back to his usual, his few laps around the ice rink.

That game, they win. 4-2. Andre doesn’t get a goal, but he does get an assist and Nathan does get a goal. Maybe interrupting Nathan will have to be a pregame ritual. Honestly, Nate didn’t seem against it anyway. And it gives Andre plenty of room to be a tiny little thorn in Nate’s side, if he allows. Since so far he has allowed, Andre will do just that.

\--

First, it was just a thought. First, it was just every now and then Andre would skate up to Nate and assume the hunched over position and headbutt him and then skate away. Just every couple of practices. That’s all. But then Andre had noticed something. When he wouldn’t bump heads with Nathan, he’d glance over with a look Andre could never read. Honestly, Andre couldn’t read many of Nathan’s faces.

So then, Gabe gave him an eye about it. Just once and then had to skate over and ask why he was leaving MacKinnon hanging. English, it still doesn’t make the most sense to Andre because he most certainly wasn’t leaving him hanging. But also in the learned English slang way, he wasn’t purposely leaving him to hang either.

That gave Andre the idea to check Nate into the boards. That’ll show him that he’s not forgetting about him. It’s not a hard check, it’s on the gentle side, but just enough to show that he didn’t forget him. He’s still here and he sees that Nate is out here also practicing. No forgetting happened.

But a few plays later, Nate then checks Andre into the boards. This check also isn’t hard, it’s about the same gentleness that Andre gave him. He glances at Nathan as he pulls away from the collision, but Nate never looks back at him. So, maybe this is an encouraged thing. Maybe Andre is supposed to continue this.

However, the next time he does run Nate into the boards, Gabe comes flying up. His arms are up and waving. “Burky, what the hell are you doing?”

Andre, he rights his helmet on his head and furrows his brow. What could Gabe mean? He glances to MacKinnon who is skating away without a hitch in his skating glide. Andre looks back at Gabe, confused. “What?”

“You can’t just do that. There’s no checking! This is practice.”

Is he serious? Andre blinks at him. “I’m sorry? What are you going on about?”

Gabe bumps into Andre’s shoulder. “You cannot just board him. Him of all people. We need him. You can’t do that.”

Still, Andre cannot believe what he is hearing. So after Nate boarding him and a few other times of him boarding Nate, only now is it a problem. It’s weird since now neither of them are even checking hard. They’re just bumping at this point. “Weren’t you the one that told me to eye for an eye him into the boards?”

“No. We need him. And you guys shouldn’t be boarding each other.”

Andre frowns. “And you don’t need me?” He can’t tell if he should be showing the feeling of being offended on his face or not. He’ll wait on that for a moment.

“We need you, too. But you can’t just board him like-”

“I can’t? Are you sure? You definitely were the whole reason this started.” Andre huffs and instead of being offended, he shows frustration across his face.

Gabe tilts his head at him. The expression confusing Gabe. “But you both have to be more gentle. Can’t have you hurting each other.”

“No. I don’t think I will.” Andre puffs his chest out a little to help make his point. “It’s our thing now.” And with that he whips his head the other direction and skates off.

That felt kind of dumb to do. It was a weird conversation and Andre can’t tell if Gabe is just worried about Nate and none about him or not. Maybe something he can press Gabe about later.

The remainder of that practice, Andre only crashes into Nate one other time. It actually wasn’t even on purpose, but right after it happened he shot a look to Gabe. But Gabe just rolled his eyes instead of yelling or throwing his hands up in the air or, well, anything else that Andre was thinking he’d do. Besides it being Nathan, the lack of reaction feels like it was for nothing.

Still. It’s Andre’s plan to bump Nathan into the boards during every practice. At least once. And headbutt him in pregame warmups.

\--

The next practice, Nikita skates up to Andre’s side. It’s warm ups before practice time and everyone is just starting on their legs. Andre eyes him for a moment, but Nikita doesn’t say anything. And because he doesn’t say anything, Andre is relieved.

Nikita stretches out next to Andre, starting to copy the current stretches that Andre is on. That doesn’t bother Andre. It does, however, make him a little more competitive while stretching. Holding poses to see who can last longer. Nikita just seems to effortlessly follow until Andre stops. This is close to a bad idea because they could be doing two hour lunges on the ice and that isn’t typically in the plan for practices. But at the same time, they’ll both be nice and limber.

By the time Andre, accompanied by Nikita, gets through two rounds of stretching, the rest of the team is ready to practice plays. Again, Nikita looks over to Andre but this time he grunts.

Andre decides to be playful. “You know I can’t be your defensive partner. I’m not a defense.”

Nikita cracks a smile. “You would not good at it.”

Oh, right. Nikita definitely likes to pick on people. Andre continues the playful side and drops his jaw, trying to act his best to be offended. “How dare you! I could if I wanted. I just want to score goals.”

Nikita’s smile grows. “You not. I score as many as you.”

“You do not! I can score and I have scored!”

A grunt. “You not score people.”

Andre pauses. “What?”

Nikita just shrugs and starts to skate away.

“No, wait. What?” Andre trails behind him.

“No talk. Practice.” Okay. Right, Nikita suddenly flipped his game mode switch on. Oh.

It doesn’t sit well with Andre, but he supposes Nikita is right. They are here to practice and they’ve spent plenty of time just off doing their own thing without working on any skill.

This practice Andre is a bit more focused on his own issues to iron out in play. He sort of forgets that most players are there. He knows they are because the puck is moving, there’s yelling, there’s laughing, but he zones into work mode. He also forgets that Nathan is there. He forgets that Gabe is there except to pass to him and hear him chirp about doing good or something was almost working. But there is a time where Gabe misses a shot and he throws his stick like a javelin into the boards. Yeah, Gabe made himself noticed there.

Or the one time Nikita does the slowest check to the boards on Gabe that Andre has ever seen. Gabe’s body facing the boards and his back to Nikita’s front as Nikita closes in on him. It’s gentle and slow and he just presses him flat into the boards for what felt like ten seconds. It gave Andre a pause, but he’s snapped out of it when he hears the loud tapping of a stick blade on the ice.

There are clearly some people here who are here to play. Guys. Unlike Nikita and Gabe. Like Calvert. Like EJ. Like Andre. Well, Andre hopes, but he can’t help that he’s distracted by antics. It’s his style too. The only thing is that he’s still learning this team. Slowly, his antics will come in time.

Practice is basically a wrap except for those that feel like they want a bit more tuning. For now, Andre feels good about his lacking aspects. He worked pretty well on them for today, so he heads to the locker room. There are a couple other guys there, but that’s normal.

Andre focuses on getting himself out of his gear, though he’s a little clumsy, he always manages and he then hits the showers. He hums to himself in the shower, he rocks back and forth on his feet to a song in his head, and he even sings a little out loud. Andre, he feels good. He pays no mind to anyone else in the showers with him. He’s in his world where he just feels good. There’s a soreness to his muscles, but it’s the after practice burn.

He towels up and exits the showers. He starts to head to his locker but pauses, feeling eyes on him. He glances around, his eyes land on Nathan who is already looking at him. And now Andre feels under dressed. His eyes widen and Nathan just looks. Finally, he looks away and Andre has to remember what he was meant to be doing. That’s right, dressing himself. He lowers his head in what seems like a feeling of embarrassment or maybe bashfulness. Those are things that Andre isn’t sure he’s felt before, so he smashes those feelings down and focuses on something he knows how to do: dress.

\--

Andre gets a goal in the next game. A game where during the pregame, he was distracted by Jost and never went to headbutt Nathan MacKinnon during his pregame puck handling. A game where they still managed to lose. It’s bittersweet for Andre. The team mindset is upset because they lost. But the personal mindset is happy because he broke his own goal record from last year.

So for what feels like selfish reason, Andre celebrates. He goes out to a local club, he drinks, he dances, again he feels good. He lets himself go a little bit. He has a good time. He grinds up against a couple guys and a couple girls, they return the favor. He gets more drinks and at some point, he ends up going one for one with another guy taking shots.

In a fit of giggling and barely remembering to answer questions he was just asked, Andre knows that he and this guy are making out. Between the alcohol and smooth talking, Andre can’t say no. It’s fuzzy, but in the good way that a drink or two can help take the edge off of things. Or a few drinks. The world around him is buzzing by his ears in a harsh hum but he is able to keep his focus on his new club friend. He smiles and giggles and laughs at his new attractive, blonde haired, dark eyed friend.

Only a few more kisses and Andre is invited back to the guy’s place. He says yes. It can only lead to more of a good time and really, Andre feels like he’s deserved that. Hasn’t he? He thinks so, that’s all that matters to him at this point. So when the guy pushes away from the seats of the bar and tugs at Andre’s hand to follow, Andre does.

He gets a few steps before his other hand is tugged in the opposite direction. Andre can’t go both ways, so he stops. He looks at the blonde that has hold of his right hand and then turns to see who has hold of his left hand. Nikita. Andre gasps.

“What’s the matter, babe?” The right hand guy asks.

Nikita lifts an eyebrow as he looks between Andre and the other guy.

“Wow, your hands are big,” Andre comments.

“You babe?” Nikita asks, ignoring Andre’s statement.

“Uh,” Andre pauses and then looks back to his right. He supposes he just might be.

“Oh.” The guy frowns when he realizes that he’s not the only one that has Andre. “Is he a friend of yours?” The tone is less than impressed and Nikita is keen to pick it up. Andre, however, he feels like he’s taking a backseat to a conversation revolving around him.

“Yeah, he my friend. I take him home. You go. Go find another.” Nikita straightens out a bit more to appear taller. Not that he ever really needs it, his voice is already off putting.

“But Big Z,” Andre attempts to plead and looks at his new friend. The guy is letting up his grip. “We were just… We were just gonna…” Andre trails off. He doesn’t actually know what they were going to do. Something fun is all Andre could possibly think of but not an actual thing to do.

“No, he home with me,” this time Nikita is more stern and his voice is deeper. He gives a small tug to Andre’s hand, who takes the social cue and moves closer to Nikita.

The cute blonde frowns and now completely lets go of Andre. “Well, yeah, next time you shouldn’t let your bottom wander so far away,” he sneers as he walks away.

“Wait.” Andre watches as he gets lost in the crowd. “I’m not… a bottom.” The drinks starting to hit Andre harder now as he leans into Nikita. His attention is back on Nikita as well. “He thought…? Fuck, you’re so tall and strong. I like that.”

Nikita grunts. “You a drunk. We go home. Not trust you alone here.”

“You don’t trust me? I trust me. He- he even trusted me.” It’s obvious to everyone that might be listening in the crowded club that Andre is slurring. He should not be trusted.

“Bad example. Not trust alone. We go.”

“Can you carry me?”

Nikita shoots him a look. “You have leg. Walk.” With that, Nikita pulls Andre along, linking their arms so he can’t get lost in the crowd.

Andre shrugs. “It was worth a shot. Who wouldn’t want you to carry them?” But Andre realizes what happened. Nikita chased away his man. “Hey! We were having a good time. Why are you here?”

“Save you from idiot.”

“Save me?” That doesn’t make sense. Andre is having a great time. A very best time. “From what idiot?”

“You idiot. Idiot faerie Swede get take. Be more careful.”

“I was careful. He was helping me.”

“Helping you to use you.”

Oh. Andre frowns, he doesn’t like that thought. “Really?”

“Yeah. Think he know you from TV. You make famous from cup last year.”

Something does occur to Andre in his foggy mind. “Nikita,” he says in a playful, singsong voice. “Were you watching me?”

Nikita glances to him. “Yes, you idiot face stick out in group.”

Andre smiles at that. “Nikita was watching me,” he continues his singsong voice. “Big Russian watchdog.”

But Nikita doesn’t seem as amused. He rolls his eyes while he keeps pushing through the mass of people toward the exit. Even though he may seem annoyed, he doesn’t tell Andre to be quiet, he doesn’t tell him that he is annoying. He just leads him outside and to the parking lot.

He softly laughs finding his new nickname for Nikita amusing. “Where are you taking me, you Russian watchdog?”

“To car. To home.”

Andre hums. “That sounds like fun. I can drive.”

“No. You not. You need me to walk.”

That causes Andre to stop, look down at his legs, and look at Nikita’s at the severe slant he’s been walking in. “Ohh,” he nods his head.

“Come, faerie.” He pulls slightly to get Andre to move forward again. It’s an effort but it eventually works and he’s leading Andre toward the car.

Andre thinks at some point he enters a car. Or rather, the backseat of some vehicle. He can’t really remember. But he’s sure he was lying down, cramped a bit, but lying down with his legs up in the air or leaning against the car door. The next time he can recall actually being upright on his own for the most part, he’s in a bed. Soft blankets around him and a couple pillows.

He can’t keep holding his own body up, so he crashes into the bed. Andre inhales deep. It smells like Nikita. He supposes this is Nikita’s place, but that’s as far as he thinks before drifting off. Again. Or maybe just blacking out.

\--

What is a guy to do? A Swedish faerie passed out in his bed for who knows how long. Yes, Nikita did basically save him. But that was last night and it’s close to 10 am, could Andre really need to sleep this long? Is he recovering that hard? At one point in time, Nikita was sure that Andre said he was also part Russian, but for right now, in his current state, that remains to be seen.

Though Nikita has left Andre alone for the most part, he has at least checked on him to make sure he was still breathing. Which he is breathing and he hasn’t thrown up in Nikita’s nice sheets either. So everything is a plus. Except for the fact that he is still sleeping. That worries Nikita a little, but not too bad. He isn’t sure of Andre’s party habits or how well he can hold his drink.

What he is sure of is that he did have to rescue Andre from his own stupidity. To Andre’s credit, it was drunken stupidity. So maybe Nikita will reconsider how he classifies him. But while he’s passed out on his good sheets, it’s just regular stupidity.

Still, that leaves Nikita with wondering what to do. His only idea involves asking Gabe. But since Gabe isn’t with Nikita, a text will have to do. Nikita has always felt better at writing or typing. It gives him more time to think of the correct English word and usually the auto correct of the phone helps him to spell.

Nikita: Hey I picked up a Swede  
капитан милая: I thought I was the only Swede for you?  
Nikita: Not what I mean. He almost did stupid thing last night at the club.  
капитан милая: AND you went to a club without me?   
Wait, who?  
Nikita: Burky  
капитан милая: Oh. You were stalking him?  
Nikita: No, I just want drink to blow steam off from loss  
капитан милая: Was the stupid thing to challenge you to see who could drink more?  
Nikita: No. But he almost get take away by some puck rabit  
капитан милая: Puck bunny.  
Nikita: Same thing.  
капитан милая: That’s the term. So you cock blocked him?  
Nikita: No  
капитан милая: Were they hooking up?  
Nikita: He was leaving  
капитан милая: So that’s a yes and a yes.  
Nikita: He’s still asleep  
капитан милая: Why did you cock block him?  
Nikita: Not like the look of bunny  
капитан милая: Yeah but unfortunately, you don’t get to make the decision  
Nikita: You want to explain to Mack when it get out Burky was used for sex?  
капитан милая: … Well, good point. The team probably needs him not to be in jail  
Nikita: Yeah so I save him. So now what do I do?  
капитан милая: What?  
Nikita: What do I do? He won’t wake  
капитан милая: Let him go?  
Nikita: feels weird. When do I wake?  
капитан милая: Well, we don’t have practice until tomorrow, so before practice?  
Nikita: But he on the good sheets  
капитан милая: The sheets you don’t let me on??  
Nikita: Not plan. I was to sleep in bed not him  
капитан милая: You owe me a nap on the sheets. Anyway, make him breakfast  
Nikita: Almost afternoon  
капитан милая: Make him food when he wakes, you like taking care of people  
Nikita: Tell Mack?  
капитан милая: Tell him what? That he’s with you and not him?  
Nikita: He pick him up  
капитан милая: Sounds like a thing you should let Andre do  
Nikita: Cut middle guy  
капитан милая: Having Macky show up while he has a hangover?  
Nikita: Think he get hangover?  
капитан милая: I don’t know, but let him wake up and decide  
Nikita: Fine I wait. Then food  
капитан милая: Good boy :)

Nikita sets his phone down on his counter. He better not have to nurse Andre back to health or something like that. Who is he kidding? He’d do it, in a way, he likes doing things like that. But he’s pretty sure someone else should do it instead. As Gabe said though, it’s something Andre should decide and Nikita will just let that idea pass. He doesn’t want to pressure him.

He looks through his cabinets and his fridge to figure out what he could make for Andre, whenever he gets up. There are a couple things, but Nikita will wait so it’s more fresh. The things he does. So he waits.

Andre groans. He turns his head to get comfortable again. He lifts his head and flips the pillow before resting his head back down on it. He turns his head again. Nothing is comfortable. He groans again. It smells like Nikita.

He blinks his eyes open, but nothing looks familiar. Oh no. Oh no, no, no. Where is he? He pushes himself up. Silky sheets. And they smell like Nikita? He looks around the room again. It’s a bit gaudy and very in his face. Seems like Nikita’s taste in decor. He really hopes at least he’s in Nikita’s bedroom.

Wait. He looks down to his chest and then to his legs. He still has clothes on. So, that’s probably a good sign too. Unless he had the foresight to redress himself after. Not that he wouldn’t want to do something with Nikita, but he’d like to remember it. Or at least not be a drunken fool during. The little things. He sits up and rubs his hands over his face. Now that a headache seems to be setting in, he doubts he had any foresight for anything but more drinks.

So far, he can conclude that he had a good time last night. That is what he set out to do. Good for past him. Even if current him is growing a headache. He climbs out of the bed and glances around. He steps closer to the dresser and looks at the stuff placed on top. A couple pictures of the Big Z himself and some jewelry.

Andre picks up the one framed picture. It looks like a younger Nikita, smiling, but still in hockey gear but the words across his chest isn’t English, it’s Russian. Andre smiles finding it cute that Z has always loved hockey, and that he has pictures of himself from when he was younger. In his room. Well, whatever makes Nikita work, Andre is happy to have it. And seeing that does settle Andre a bit more. He knows for sure this is Nikita’s house and not some random hook up.

He sets the picture down and glances at the one next to it. But he pauses. He hears a noise like shuffling to his side and when he looks, the door is opening slowly. He steps away from the dresser and toward the door. He leans a little to try and look around it before it opens enough. Oh.

“Z,” he mumbles.

Nikita blinks since Andre is not where he thought he’d be. “Burky. You okay? Need things?”

Andre rubs the side of his head a little. “Uh, I don’t know. I think-”

“I get you water. Head hurt?”

“Oh, well…” Now that he’s said something, Andre realizes how dry his mouth feels. “I don’t think- Yeah. I guess I have a little headache.”

Nikita flashes a small smile. “Come. Can make food too.” He turns and gives a nod for Andre to follow him toward the kitchen.

So like a good guest, Andre follows, but of course he does fall behind a couple times from looking at Nikita’s fancy seeming decorations. And because he is lagging behind, it causes Nikita to glance over his shoulder. Andre was never that good about being stealthy anyway, so this shouldn’t surprise anyone. It definitely doesn’t surprise him.

Just like Nikita said, he starts making food. Only after handing Andre a chilled bottle of water and some aspirin. Which of course Andre takes. The headache isn’t bad, but it does feel like it’s just going to nag him for a while.

“So, can I help you in anyway?” Andre offers.

Nikita shakes his head. “No. You sit. No worry. Just sit.” He gestures to the bar behind him in the kitchen.

Well, Andre moves to take the offered seat. He leans against the bar top with an elbow resting on it as he watches Nikita move about his kitchen. The longer Andre sits here, the more he has to know. Why is he here, for one? This wasn’t a part of his plan, but here he is, somehow. Also why Nikita, out of anyone?

“Can I ask you something or somethings?”

A glance at Andre, but no real confirmation, so he just takes it as a sign to continue.

“Um, yeah. Soooo…” he glances around. “How did I… get here?”

“Bring you.”

Well, Andre was hoping for a little more of an explanation. “From… the club?”

“Yeah.” Again, he doesn’t add anything else. Andre is starting to wonder if he’s doing it on purpose.

“Was that… Is that something I convinced you to do? Or was that just-”

“I rescue.”

Andre blinks. “What?”

“You idiot. I save.”

“From what?”

“Guy. He steal you to use you.” Something about the way Nikita says that, it doesn’t sit well with Andre. Flags go up and he feels a warmth wash over him from what he could only assume is embarrassment.

“He… Oh, really?” he asks quietly and lowers his gaze to his water bottle in front of him.

A pause from Nikita as he glances over his shoulder. “Nothing happen. I stop it. Then I take you and we go here.”

This is all making more sense for Andre. He does seem to remember that. There was a guy he was making out with, and yes, suddenly Nikita. But he doesn’t remember touching Nikita, not really, not in the way he was touching that possible hook up guy. Maybe leaning on him a whole lot, but that’s all.

But it nags at Andre. The thought that maybe he did blackout, maybe he doesn’t remember everything. Maybe something with Nikita did happen. Maybe? “Thank you. But, I have another question. Did we… Did anything between us…?”

“You in different room. With good sheets. I worry you vomit on them. You not, right?” Another glance back to Andre.

“I- what? No. I didn’t- I’m not even that hungover. But, uh yeah, thanks. I just, you know, I wanted to have a good time. Is that bad?”

Nikita makes a small face to himself. “No. I like have good time. Why you think I there?”

“Not to spy on me? I’m hurt.” Andre looks up a little just to fake a pout at Nikita.

“Not plan, but can do two thing at one.” And well, Andre had not been paying much attention to what exact Nikita was doing, just that he was fiddling with making something. But it’s now that Nikita places a plate of two pancakes in front of Andre.

Andre looks down at it. “Oh, wow. Thank you. I didn’t realize you were making all this.” He looks up and sees now, that everything has been out for making pancakes and it was no secret that Nikita was, in fact, making pancakes. All Andre had to do was look. “You didn’t have to do this.”

Nikita shrugs and gives himself a pancake before sitting across from Andre at the bar. “I want. Not know how you be when wake.”

“Well, thank you. I appreciate it.” He looks at the plate for another moment. “Can I ask something else?” He looks at Nikita who is already half way through his pancake at this point and can only nod while his mouth is full. “Was I that pathetic that I needed saving?”

A grunt and then Nikita shakes his head. “Not pathetic. Just look out for you. Well being, is that right?”

Andre nods, “Yeah, that’s right.”

“Hold.” Nikita pauses from eating to fish out his phone from his pocket. He scrolls through a few things. “I think he was puck bunny.” He puts his phone away.

“A puck bunny? How do you know?”

Nikita just taps his temple. “I know. But I have to look up phrase for bunny.”

Andre is quiet for a moment. He feels a little stupid about that, since he couldn’t tell that for himself. Since he had to have someone else intervene. “Why did you stop me? What if it was someone else?”

“I do it for team. But you good, keep you good.” Andre doesn’t reply, he doesn’t look at Nikita either. So Nikita goes on, “Should eat. Make body feel good. And. I make good pancake.”

\--

The next practice, Andre is dressing and lacing up his skates. He feels eyes on him and pauses before looking up. Andre sits back in his chair and his eyes meet Nathan’s. Oh, Nathan. Still, Andre can’t read his face, but Nate doesn’t look upset or annoyed or anything.

Andre smiles at Nate before making a different face that scrunches up his face a little. He doesn’t look long enough to see Nate’s reaction because he lowers his head to gather the rest of his gear. He runs his hand through his hair and then places his helmet over top his briefly tamed hair.

When he looks back up in Nathan’s direction, he isn’t facing Andre. He’s fiddling with something in his gear bag. It does cause Andre to frown slightly. For some reason, he was thinking that he and Nate could make faces at each other for a while, but he supposes not. It’s an odd thing to think especially since Nate is on the other end of it. But maybe he’s playful too. Wouldn’t he have to be? Andre isn’t sure why he thinks this, but he is sure that he’ll figure out the answer.

Andre grabs his gloves and stick before pushing himself up to head out to the ice. Just before stepping onto the ice, he puts his gloves on. He softly hums to himself and on the ice he goes. There’s already other guys doing their warm ups and practice shots, but Andre will just start with a few laps around the rink.

He’s somewhere close to lap three when someone quickly passes him. It’s an all out sprint. Andre is tempted to see if he can catch up, but before he makes up his mind about that, another guy passes him too. And Andre knows he isn’t doing record times here, but damn, is that fast. But from this one, he hears giggling. He narrows his eyes as he tries to make out the form of who it is. Jost and the first one was probably Compher.

They lap him and Andre is able to see the focused face of JT along with the flash of his ginger hair. Whatever it is that they’re doing, Andre is amused. It’s always kept the team light, or helped keep the team light. Especially when Gabe is trying to be Mister Serious Captain and obviously Tyson isn’t listening so he’ll chime in asking what Gabe was talking about. Tyson is almost always captivated by JT even during captain speeches.. It’s endearing.

Lap four, Andre stops at the corner to pass a puck back to Bellemare. He shot the puck on goal and it hit the pipes making it ricochet toward Andre. Only, Bellemare over skates the puck by a lot. So much so that he’s now headed straight for Andre. Not just for Andre, but he picks up speed and Andre only lifts his eyebrows, confused. Mush. Andre is mushed into the boards by Bellemare. Depending on who’s looking, it could be called a bodyslam. A gentle bodyslam, but body to body contact.

But Bellemare is smiling and it’s in good fun. Andre knows that and gives him a bit of a shove back. The shove only makes Bellemare apply more pressure. “You like rough?” he says through a laugh.

Well, Andre can roll with the good times. He looks at him, an eyebrow raised again, but this time amused. “Are you dealing?”

Bellemare wiggles his eyebrows. Suddenly his whole look changes and he draws back. “Hey, hey! I mean no harm,” he says over his shoulder. His practice sweater is taught around his neck like someone is pulling him back by it. “All in fun, my boy.” He finally turns enough for Andre to see who.

Nathan.

Nathan and a harsh face, one that Andre hasn’t received much of. He knows he’s seen Nate make faces like that when against an opponent, but not so much when it’s just a team practice. It makes Andre’s smile fade. Bellemare raises his hands to gesture that he surrenders before he skates away, leaving Andre to face Nate.

This is what Andre had wanted; him and Nathan MacKinnon. But right now, it doesn’t feel like it’s on the terms that he had wanted. So, Andre blinks not knowing what he should be saying to Nate or why Nate did that.

“You should be more careful,” he offers quietly, his face softening. It’s a shame because for Andre, that could mean a few things as of late. The confusion must come across his face because Nate continues, “We need you.”

That clears it up a little. Nate probably means on the ice. But Andre doesn’t reply, again. He continues just to stare at Nate and Nate must be done talking because he turns to skate away.

It’s all fine and well, but it wasn’t Andre’s idea to get pressed into the boards. And it really was just in good fun. Being loose. That’s not fair, not at all.

Andre furrows his brow and takes off after Nate. He skates around in front of him and stops. Nate slightly tilts his head. Andre continues to stare at him and even takes a breath in to speak, but he decides against it. Instead, he lowers his head and watches Nate through his eyelashes. He moves forward until their helmets bump. He keeps watching Nate and doesn’t move. Apparently, this is okay. Just like that, Nate becomes unreadable to Andre again.

Gently, Nate pushes his head against Andre’s, like a bit of tug-o-war. This is all just confusing for Andre. Only Nate can do this stuff? But that takes the fun out of most of the team. Not to mention not being fair. It’s not Andre’s fault he quite possibly is a huge flirt.

“Why?” He finally asks. Nate pulls his head back to look at Andre more square. But that’s not what Andre wanted, so he moves his head to press it against Nathan’s helmet again. “Why me?” It’s a loaded question, or it could be if all these things that keep happening are happening for a reason.

For the first time, Andre can feel that Nate doesn’t have an explanation. There’s a slight struggle behind his eyes and somewhere in that labyrinth of his brain. But he can also feel Nate work through it. “You’re important to the team-”

“That’s not what I mean.”

Nathan’s eyes widen slightly. “Then what do you mean?”

“I feel like I’m in bubble wrap.” Another pause, and again Nate tries to pull out of their headbutt session, but Andre chases him and rests a hand on Nate’s shoulder. “Why can we check each other, but Belly can’t check me?”

“He can.”

“You just pulled him away from me and we’ve checked each other much harder than that.”

“I was making sure.”

Andre pauses, he’ll try another route of questioning. “Is this whole Gabe and Nikita tailing me thing your idea too?”

“What?” But Andre doesn’t answer that. It seems the longer he doesn’t answer, the harder Nate’s face goes. “No.”

“Don’t. They’re actually helping me.” Andre does still appreciate Nikita stopping him from doing something he would most likely regret. Nikita didn’t even ask questions or ask why he drank as much as he did. Or even his drunken taste in men.

“If you say so.”

Andre lets go of Nate’s shoulder and stands square to look at him. “I play hockey, I can take some hits.” He pauses and starts to smirk. “But since you’re the only one allowed to hit me back, I’ll just have to check you harder.” He winks at Nate and skates away.

The rest of the practice is more of the same practice stuff. But Andre does board Nate a little harder than usual. Each time, though, Nate almost seems to smile at him. Meanwhile Nate only checks Andre once and it doesn’t seem nearly as hard as Andre’s been checking him. It’s still just as fun as when Andre decided that this will be their thing.

\--

It’s pregame and everyone is all warmed up and ready to get the win. The lines are a little mixed up for this game against the Stars. Andre is learning about how most games against the Stars are pretty spirited. He always likes a hard fought game and he’s still not sure who the main enemies of the team are. He supposes the Stars are one of them? It could just be a divisional enemy. Either way, Andre is more than happy to play.

After the first period, Andre can tell. This checks off on the list of hard playing. It's everything he wants in a hockey game. The rough hits, every shot getting an extra bounce, the personalities coming out. Even Gabe has been feisty. Though, that isn't unusual, it's just always welcomed to see. The spirit of hockey. Andre loves it.

The teams are still tied at zero, but that just means the last two periods will be that much more fun. Andre doesn’t mind when games get down to the wire. For him personally, it feels like that’s where he can shine. The other team is too busy watching the bigger names skate around and they ease up on Andre’s defense. Andre doesn’t mind being overlooked. He knows his worth.

But second period isn’t as fun as the first. Andre gets a few high sticks to the mouth. Not a few, more like one and then one under the jaw. Definitely does not feel good. He’s a little bloodied up in the mouth. When he skates to the bench after he’s hit, the trainer tries their best to patch him up and stop the bleeding.

However, as Andre sits and spaces out to whatever is happening on the ice, he gets distracted by yelling. He looks to where it’s coming from. Gabe is pushing someone back from the ref and that someone is Nathan. He’s more red in the face than Andre has ever seen him. Gabe keeps pushing him back to the bench doors, all the while, just nodding.

“Easy there, big Dogg,” Andre can hear Gabe try and soothe Nate.

“It’s bullshit and you know it. All our players bleed before we get any justice,” Nathan’s words are eerily calm sounding and even. But looking at him, he’s tense and taking every bit of his energy not to push Gabe right out of the way and skate up to whoever his target is and floor them.

Gabe continues to nod, not even phased by the fact that Nate could just shove him out of the way and the only thing stopping that is Nate himself.

Andre gets interrupted from watching when the trainer steps in front of him and asks to see his mouth again. Andre stares at the trainer and then bares his teeth. “That good?” It seems so, but only after the trainer uses a cotton ball to dab Andre’s mouth. New meaning to cotton mouth.

When the trainer leaves, Nate is already sitting on the bench with Gabe next to him and it looks like tempers have settled. Nate is chewing on his mouthguard and Gabe is staring out to the ice. Andre looks away from them to his skates. Check, he still has his skates on. However, maybe he should invest in a mouthguard.

It’s the third period and Andre has officially stopped bleeding from the mouth. His mouth doesn’t have that coppery taste, so that’s progress. Besides that, the game is still tied, but at one each. It’s only the beginning of the period and every shift change is in full surges. As soon as the new lines get on, it’s all momentum to the net which only gets greeted by The Stars’ line change and momentum swinging back the other way. The only way to make this game better is to have it set in playoffs.

Everyone is excited but honed in, all the energy focused on the win. It’s times like these that Andre completely enjoys the atmosphere. A shared feeling: win.

Andre hops over the bench onto the ice for a change and as soon as he’s a step away from the blueline, he gets a pass. A stutter step before crossing the blueline and when he reaches the point, he aims for the net while pressure is coming from behind. But Andre only sees the puck head toward the net, everything else goes black for a moment.

He’s hit from behind into the boards. Not in the way that he and Nathan do it, no, this is with more force, more intent. Mean. Andre falls awkwardly into the boards and heaps onto the ice. It takes him a moment to right himself before standing up. He corrects his crooked helmet and looks around. A blink. The play is still going on, no whistle that he could hear. But he can’t exactly focus too much to hear anything.

A body flies into the boards near him. His reaction to get away is slow, but he manages. Glancing over his shoulder, he sees MacKinnon through punches to the body that got thrown into the boards. Andre is probably dazed, but he can’t help but slack his jaw as he watches Nathan rain punches down on the other team’s player. His face is completely serene, like this is letting out some of that tension he had before.

Someone else skates up to Andre and helps him toward the bench. Andre lets them guide him backwards as he continues to watch Nathan. There’s a slight struggle before Nathan finally flips the guy on his back to the ice. Andre looks to see who’s guiding him back. Gabe.

“Did he…?” Andre doesn’t finish his sentence.

Gabe just smirks a little as he glances to Andre. “Can’t have you getting run over twice in a sequence.” He’s right, as usual.

Andre steps in and sits on the bench. Nathan is penalized and gets to sit across the ice in the penalty box. For the whole while that Nate is in there, Andre stares at him. The trainer is back asking questions meanwhile Andre can’t tear his eyes away from Nate. He’s sure that Gabe asks him a question, but Andre grunts some noise out. That gets both trainers to circle around him.

Until, he looks at one of them, a cold, dark stare. “I’m fine.” A feeling coming over Andre that he didn’t realize needed to be released. It’s warm and feverish. It reminds him of rage but more controlled. The trainers back away but suggest that he should go to the locker room. Andre declines.

When Nate’s time is up, Andre’s kill shift is on the ice anticipating it. He passes to Nate who has no one covering him. They didn’t account for him coming out of the box and mistimed his coverage. Nate takes off to the goal and scores.

2-1.

Andre skates up for the celebration hug and Nathan watches him the whole way into his open arm. Others get there before Andre, but Nathan only fixes his eyes on Andre. There’s a pleased smile on his face and it’s infectious because now Andre is wearing a smile as he hugs Nathan back.

Neither of them say anything and they don’t have to. Andre can feel Nathan thanking him for the pass. He’s always been a selfless one on the ice. Not just the ice but for the whole team. Andre could really get used to a feeling like this, a shared moment with Nathan on a big stage like this.

Unfortunately, he can’t stay arms linked with Nathan, and there is a game to play. So, they get to the rest of the game. It’s still high momentum and it feels amazing.

It feels amazing until Andre is hit again with yet another high stick to the mouth. He lets out a yelp and holds his mouth. It still stings from before and now the fresh wound is reopened. He drifts to the benches while holding his mouth and trying not to bleed all over the ice. But shit does it sting. The first time wasn’t fun, but this second time is-

There’s a loud commotion on the ice in the direction he just from. Andre turns to see a fight. Nate again, fists flying and someone trying to dodge them, not very well since it looks like Nate makes a good amount of connections. And Andre just stares. He watches the marvel of Nathan fighting. He knew he had it in him, but he’s never seen it in person. It’s. Well, it’s extremely hot.

Andre wishes he could stare more but trainers are again swarming him and since Nate has been almost unfairly dominating his fight, the refs had to step in. It’s disappointing but, all things have to come to an end at some point. The trainers keep buzzing about Andre and this time they won’t let him go. They’re on either side checking his mouth and suggesting that this time he just go to the locker room. By suggesting, they’re both telling him to go down the runway.

Fine. Fine! Andre gives in which is a shame because there’s only seven minutes left and now that Nate has done a fight, The Stars will be on a power play and Andre can’t take part in watching or the penalty kill.

Wait, Nate. Andre looks across the ice to the penalty box but doesn’t see him. He’s not on the bench or the ice either. That’s also disappointing. But all the more reason for Andre to listen to the trainers and head down the runway.

Once he’s in the locker room, he sighs to himself. The trainers were able to glue his lip back up but it still hurts and now he can’t play. Hit too many times in the head. Or whatever they said. Protocol.

A trainer ended up following him in and tends to him more while he sits on his locker bench. More cotton balls to the mouth and shit does that sting. Rubbing alcohol. Another sigh, but the trainer gives him a pat on the shoulder. No more hits to the head. Yeah, all right then, like he can control that. But he gives a single nod before the trainer leaves him.

He sighs again. He can’t help the team on the ice and he can’t even give useful words, except for ‘shit does his mouth hurt. again’. So what’s the point? He leans back against the upright of the bench.

Bang!

Andre sits up right, head tilted, and trying to figure out where that noise came from. Another bang and that’s it, Andre stands up and heads towards the direction of the trainer’s room. He thinks the noise came from there. He puts his head next to the door to listen. There’s mumbling or something like that, so he knocks, suspecting that this is the door. The mumbling stops. It’s quiet.

He knocks again hoping for an answer. It’s quiet and then suddenly the door swings open.

He’s found Nathan and Nathan looks surprised to see Andre.

“Hi? Are you okay?” Andre can’t help but ask first. His words are slurred sounding from the swelling and the pain reliever they probably gave him.

“You’re asking me?”

“I heard… I don’t know, loud noises.”

Nate glances over his shoulder to the mess of supplies all over the room. “It’s okay. I’m fine.” He looks at Andres lip. “How’s that? It looks swollen.”

“It- I mean, yeah. It’s okay though. I’m okay. But they won’t let me play the rest of the game.”

“Me either,” he watches Andre and for the first time, Andre senses a hint of humor. Just like that, another time that he feels like he can read Nate.

Andre smiles. “Can I ask why? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you fight and then two in one night?” His eyes are drawn to the reddening skin on Nate’s cheek. Without putting much more thought into it, Andre’s hand is already reaching up to gently caress it.

Nate lowers his gaze but doesn’t pull away from the touch like Andre thought he might. A hum and then he answers, “Tonight’s game wasn’t called well. Our team shouldn’t be brutalized just because they don’t feel like blowing a whistle.”

“I didn’t see you really get hit,” he mumbles just before lowering his hand. “That’s because of me, isn’t it?”

“You didn’t throw the punch.”

“No, I didn’t.” His eyes meet Nate’s.

Nate is staring at Andre’s swollen lips. “You shouldn’t have had to get a high stick. Twice.” He looks away and Andre feels a little deflated by that. “I should probably ask for a trainer,” he mumbles and raises his right hand showing it cut open and bloodied.

Andre looks and gasps quietly. That happened because of him. Because of Andre and his face attracting sticks. Definitely should look into mouthguards. After all, Nate has one. “Do you want me to get you one? They’ve been buzzing around me all game.”

“You don’t have to.” He pauses. “But if you see one while you’re changing,” he eyes Andre and shrugs.

“Okay,” Andre does agree to it but he’s going to find Nathan a trainer. “I’ll leave you to it then.”

“Hey,” it causes Andre to stop and look at Nate. “Thank you,” Nate says with a soft smile.

Andre turns because he knows he won’t be able to help how big his own smile grows.

\--

Though Andre knows he should be trying to focus on the here and now, he can’t wait until practice is over. He has plans. Well, he’s going to make plans. He’s going to ask Nate to get coffee or ice cream or something like that.

He’s excited and feeling floaty and light. And oh god, maybe he is a bit of a school girl. Here he was thinking he wasn’t even close to it. Well if being happy and giddy and hopeful is being a school girl, then maybe he is.

So far, Andre has done a few headbutts to Nate, as part of tradition at this point, and some checks into the boards, also part of tradition. He has also given long looks at Nate and lingering touches. Perhaps he’s being too obvious now that he has a second to think about it, but that’s for another time.

“Hey, Burky-Burk,” he hears from behind him. When he turns to look, Gabe is skating up to him, smile and all. “What’s going on? You seem like you’re in a super good mood today.” He wiggles his eyebrows to add effect.

Andre shrugs. “You know, just some days you feel good during practice-”

“Oh, is that it? That’s all?” Gabe leans against the half boards in front of the bench and puts a hand on his hip. Andre feels like he might be being interrogated.

“Yes?” Andre waits for Gabe to reply to that but he just eyes him and hums. “What?”

“What? I like that you feel good, even if your mouth is still a little bruised looking.”

“I’ve been getting better. I can even eat warm meals again.”

“Would you say hot meals? Maybe like a hot snack even?” Gabe’s eyes lead to something on the ice. When Andre looks, he sees a few people, so he looks back confused. “You know, a certain,” Gabe’s head nods towards whoever he’s focused on, “puck handler.”

Oh. Right now, there’s only one person passing the puck to themselves and working on their hands. Nathan. Andre does stare and since he’s in company, that company notices. When Andre realizes he’s staring, he blinks and looks away. He can feel Gabe smile or quietly laugh or whatever he’s doing.

“You’re a terrible person, Gabriel,” Andre mutters.

“I’m not. I’m a good person and I want you to be happy.” Even without looking at Gabe, Andre can feel the smile that Gabe has, or maybe he can just feel Gabe. “Happy team, is a strong team.”

Andre grumbles under his breath in Swedish about what a brat Gabe is. He’s sure that Gabe can hear it and he’s not worried about it. He makes a mental note to keep away from Gabe until after he’s asked Nate. He doesn’t need Landeskog meddling.

When Nathan looks like he’s done being super focused, Andre skates up to him. At first, Nate doesn’t notice him. It appears that Nate is picking at some tape on the end of his stick, but eventually after Andre’s patient waiting, Nate looks up to meet his eyes.

“Hi,” Andre softly smiles.

Nate seems like he’s waiting for something before he says anything. “You’re not here for one more headbutt, are you?”

“No, I am not.”

He slightly tilts his head. “Then?”

“What are you doing after practice?”

Nate blinks. “Changing out of my gear and going home.”

Andre shakes his head. “No, that’s a part of practice. I mean after.” He waits, but Nate doesn’t actually say anything. “Do you want to get coffee?” There’s a one second pause that is too long for Andre to handle. It causes butterflies and maybe even a slight feeling of wanting to throw up, but he pushes that down, way down. “Or something? It doesn’t have to coffee, it can be-”

“Yeah, that sounds nice.” Nate ends up cutting Andre and his bundle of nerves off.

Andre’s eyes light up and he smiles. “Really? So coffee?” Nate nods, and Andre nods in return. “Okay, after practice and we’ll go?”

Again, Nate doesn’t say anything. Instead, he hunches over and looks up at Andre. But Andre must take too long to understand what’s happening because Nate leans in and presses his helmet into Andre’s chest. He continues to press his helmet into Andre so much so that Andre almost loses his balance.

“Hey!” Andre lets out a yelp while he regains balance.

Nate doesn’t say anything. He just backs up out of Andre’s space and watches him with a look that Andre can’t read. Again, he can’t read Nate, but he gets the feeling that this look is playful or soft or something like that. Andre likes it. He wants to see more of that.

So Andre hurries himself into the locker room when practice is done. He showers off, not paying attention to anyone else. He is on a mission, after all. Mission: Nate coffee. Or really, Nate and Coffee. No. Mission: Nate and Date. But it’s not really a date. No, not really. That’s a thought that stays only in Andre’s mind.

When he’s done showering, he tries to find something very decent to wear in his bag. His problem is that he usually wears gym shorts and a tshirt in and out of practice. He finds a dark blue shirt that isn’t too heavily worn. Unfortunately, all he has is gym shorts, but they’re black so maybe it’s not as noticeable how much of a gym bum he is.

He attempts to wrangle in his hair. It’s wet, which sometimes seems to give it more power. He runs his fingers through it, he brushes it, but it just seems to bounce back to the shape it wants. Andre frowns at himself in the pocket sized mirror he has in his locker. This will just have to do. It isn’t like Nathan hasn’t seen Andre with messy hair. His second period intermission hair is pretty legendary after all, along with post game hair.

After tying on his sneakers, again like the gym bum he is, Andre glances up to see how far ready Nate is. He looks dressed and could be ready, but he isn’t facing out toward the room, instead he’s facing his locker. It almost looks like he’s meditating. Andre doesn’t want to stare but. He can’t help it. Nate is not someone Andre is used to. He has many questions but doesn’t know where to start asking them. So he watches.

That is, until Nathan stands up and turns around, their eyes meeting. Andre offers a soft smile and Nate breaks their locked gaze to pick up his bag. It reminds Andre to do the same. He picks up his bag and slings it over his shoulder. He hurries himself over to stand in front of Nate. Another smile. This time Nate tilts his head a little. Andre ignores that. It seems strange and like maybe they aren’t on the same page.

“Are you ready?” Nate nods. So that’s encouraging. “Do you want to walk? It’s kind of close, isn’t it?”

“We can walk.” Nate responding sends another strange feeling shooting through Andre. This isn’t something he’s used to feeling. It’s nervous and light and so very odd. For right now, he thinks he likes it.

So they walk together. For the first half of their walk, Andre doesn’t know what to say to Nathan. He’s spent all this time trying to get his attention and headbutting him that a conversation and how to handle that just completely eludes him. He tries to think of speaking points, of something, of maybe a hockey thing. He doesn’t know. Just something. Him, he’s failing at talking. It’s basically unheard of, yet, here he is. Silent.

“Your game has been getting better since you’ve been shooting more.” Nate is the one to break the silence.

Andre glances at him from the corner of his eye. Could he tell Andre was floundering? “Do you think so?”

“Definitely. You’re getting more points in games and I can tell your confidence is growing too.”

“Oh,” he mumbles. The same confidence that just left him at the ice rink today, apparently? Interesting. “Thanks, but you helped. You said at the very beginning of the season to shoot more.”

“Feels good, doesn’t it?”

There’s a pause where only Andre’s legs seem to know what to do, which is walk. His brain is sending mixed signals. This is Nathan MacKinnon, isn’t it? He glances to him and Nate is actually side glancing back. Humor. This is his humor showing through.

Andre smiles. “Yeah, you’re gonna have to look out. I’ll catch up to you soon and then I’ll pass you.”

“I hope you do. I won’t go down without a fight though.”

“If you did, that’d be disappointing. Then who would I have to dethrone?”

“Mikko. Or Cale, don’t know how high he’ll go.”

Andre hums. “Yes, dethroning a rookie. How kind of me.”

“Well, you can’t go after Mikko.”

“Why not?” Andre has a feeling he knows why, but he wants to hear what Nate has to say, or his thoughts on it.

“He’s a gentle guy.” That’s as far into it as Nathan gets. Andre was hoping for more, but it’s simple and to the point. Seems to be Nate’s style.

“He does seem very sweet. But it’d be for the greater good of the team.”

“Not if it upsets him.”

Andre can’t tell if that’s a warning. There is a slight tone change, though he wasn’t being serious about picking on Mikko. The guy is entirely too sweet and might be a bit too naive and Andre isn’t an asshole. “No, that would be bad. Guess I’ll just stick to coming after you.”

“I can handle it. You better give me your best.”

“Bet.”

Andre has a very good time getting coffee with Nathan. Apparently, when he’s not on the ice, he isn’t a sheet of plywood. He has emotion, he has humor, he smiles. It feels like a whole new person. Andre had only known serious, business, gameface Nathan MacKinnon. This is someone different.

They talk and talk. And it’s entirely too late to still be at a coffee shop for the time that they came in, but they’re still there. They’re smiling at each other. They’re having a good time with each other. Andre is pretty sure his cheeks hurt from him smiling so much, but that’s a thing he won’t admit.

On the other hand, he also can’t stop staring at Nathan across the tiny cafe style table. Nathan, he’s thoughtful when he speaks. He’s calm, he’s mostly collected. He can joke around. These are things Andre wouldn’t have guessed.

A part of him does notice the irony in that they went to a coffee shop to warm up to each other. So for right now, Ice Nate and Coffee Nate are definitely two opposites. And yet, they make up one whole Nathan MacKinnon.

They part ways for the night. As Andre walks inside his apartment, which he tells himself is still just temporary, he sighs to himself. He never did touch Nathan. He didn’t do those lame and cliche hand holds. Maybe he’s thinking too far into it, but maybe he should have. It isn’t a regret. More like he feels like he fell short. Or did he? Everything felt comfortable. None of it felt forced or rushed or.

What the fuck Andre.

You goddamn school girl.

This time he sighs to himself harder accompanied with eyes rolling, also at himself. He mumbles to himself in Swedish about how ridiculous this is and he is. Bed is a good answer. He needs his rest. Morning skate tomorrow.

\--

The following morning skate, it feels like Nikita is following Andre. Andre doesn’t understand it but he keeps giving him smiles when their eyes meet. He follows him during his warm up laps and mimics his stretches. The stretches thing, Andre is getting used to seeing Nikita copy. Does it warrant the menace title? No, he’s more amused than anything. 

But when he’s done, he gives Nikita a look with an eyebrow raised. Nikita also copies that. So Andre furrows his brows. Another copy. He raises both his brows and still Nikita does that too.

“Are you going to copy me the whole time?”

“Are you going to copy the whole time?”

Andre just stares at him. “What did I do to deserve it?”

This time though, Nikita shrugs. He must be bored with copying at this point. “You do nothing. You good boy.” He gives Andre a heavy handed pat on the head.

“You saying that is ruining my bad boy reputation,” he says as he straightens out his helmet.

“Faerie not be bad boy. We know that.” Andre shoots Nikita a playful but hurt look for that. Nikita laughs. “You good for Nate Dogg too.”

Suddenly, Andre’s joking side drops. Because apparently, all things Nathan are serious topics. “What?”

“What?”

Andre stares at him waiting for an answer but nothing comes. “Why did you say that?”

“He like you. He on the cloud. You keep balances. He not too dumb over hockey and forget all things else.”

“Oh.” Andre was not expecting this type of talk. Not during morning skate warmups.

“You secret keeper?”

“Uh, yeah? Why?”

“He lonely since off season trade. No one walk up to him and joke at him. Only little Tys do that and he had leave. Gabe like to say ‘all work, no play make Nate insufferable’. Maybe he is right.”

Andre thinks about that for a moment. “It’s… That isn’t really how the saying goes.”

“No? Then what?”

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”

“Who Jack?”

“It’s just the name for the saying.”

“Dumb. Nate insufferable is best.”

But Andre knows especially from last night, Nate is not insufferable. Oh. That could be what Nikita means. Since he has the balance. Andre stares at Nikita. “How do you know about all this? The secret or whatever this is?”

Nikita points to his eyes. “I look.”

“Then do one for Gabe.”

“Gabe big idiot. He happy like good dog and trip like when good dog stumble coming back with kills from hunting. Excite, tail wag, all it. But loyal like dog too. He fight for you, do the teeth and bite too.”

Well. As Andre thinks about it, that does sound like it makes sense. He looks at Nikita. Could this be Nikita’s superpower? “Do me.”

Nikita lifts his hand and places it on Andre’s helmet. Slowly he pulls Andre’s helmet down to start covering his face. “No. Like when time travel. Know too many thing. Ruin the time line and you die.”

Andre lets out a bit of an annoyed grunt and swats Nikita’s hand off his helmet. He rights his helmet again. “Fine, fine. I won’t ruin the world or whatever.”

“Yeah, faerie. Do right thing.”

A roll of the eyes, but a smile still playing at Andre’s lips. “Yeah, yeah. I’m just sooo good.”

\--

Instead of sometimes finding time after a practice, Andre and Nate increase their times together. The different cities that their schedule takes them. They walk about, if it isn’t too cold. Sometimes they room together in hotels. They board the buses and planes together. They intake way more coffee than they used to. They buzz around each other both from a mutual feeling and from the extra caffeine intake. There are worse reasons to buzz, honestly.

The more time after games and practices that they spend together, the more Gabe shoots, what Andre coins as, a proud papa look to them. But Gabe still complains over some boarding hits that he thinks look too hard or some headbutts that end up being too aggressive looking. It’s all in good fun. It is.

It’s a northern road trip. Andre doesn’t remember how exactly he spun it so he’d end up lying on Nathan’s bed, but he is. He’s sprawled out and watching Nate look through his things to find something. Just some thing that he clearly needs.

“You have a whole ‘I’m on a mission straight from the most important person on earth’ look about you when you focus, you know?” Andre says with a lazy smile.

Nate pauses and looks up from the current dresser draw he was looking in. “The word is intense. I look intense.”

Andre hums and continues to watch as Nate goes right back to searching. “What are you looking for?”

“A box.”

He rolls his eyes. “The whole dresser is a box.”

“Small, brown, like a wood color. The top lifts off-”

“I put it in your bag. It looked too important to leave out in a hotel. That secret pocket? That no one but you should know about, unless you have the same bag as the rest of the team.”

Nate grunts and moves to his bag to search there. He lets out a heavy breath when he finds the box. “Sorry,” he says quietly.

“Important?”

“Yeah. It’s- It’s a best friend pendant,” he mumbles.

Andre pushes himself up to sit so he can look at Nate who is hunched over his bag on the floor, box opened and in his hand. “What? ‘Best friend pendant’? You’re not eight years old.”

Nate doesn’t meet Andre’s gaze. He just stares into the box. “Yeah. It’s not. Well, it wasn’t when… it was given. But it is now.”

“Sometimes, I am amazed at how vague you are.”

“Tyson gave it to me. And we kinda, I don’t know, did stuff. But it’s not just- it’s kinda lucky too. Like good luck charm. I just like to keep it. And we’re doing good as a team and I just keep it. And he’s still my best friend and-”

“Wow, relax.” Andre has never really heard Nate stumble over thoughts and feelings and definitely has never heard him ramble unless it’s strictly hockey. “He gave you a charm and you don’t wear it?”

“No. It could fall off.”

“It’s not a best friend charm. It’s a Tyson charm.”

“Tyson charm?” Nate finally looks up to Andre.

“Yeah. Sounds better. You keep it safe. I’m sure he’ll like that.” Andre lies back down and sighs to himself. He thinks that Nate was about to emotionally vomit at him through a ramble. Andre can listen, but he doesn’t have the best listening skills when it’s lengthy and crammed with emotion.

“Brutes charm,” Nate admends.

They’re both quiet for what could have been an hour, maybe more. Neither of them move much. Eventually, there’s a shuffling and then Nate crawls into the bed next to Andre. But since Andre resumed the position of taking up as much room as possible, Nate ends up lying on a couple Andre limbs.

“I’m sorry,” he says quietly.

“What for?” Andre asks and lazily turns his head to look at Nate.

“The mixed signals.” Andre only gives that a hum response. “I’ll explain.” Again Andre doesn’t answer. “Tyson and I… We were best friends, well we’re still best friends, but. No, lemme restart. Tyson and I have always been close. Friends first and all that. It wasn’t often, but there were times where we did more than what friends should do. And then he was traded and that upset me for a long time. I know it’s the business of the game, I know that the team could free up cap space. I knew all that, but I still took it hard. We’re still just best friends, so he means a lot to me. He was always there while I was on this team. Being without him didn’t feel right for a long time. So I turned to the other constant, the thing that took him away: hockey.”

Nate sighs and shakes his head. “What I mean to say is I like you. I like our time, I like what we’re doing. I might still get caught up on Tyson but that doesn’t make anything we do together any less.” He’s quiet, like he’s waiting for Andre to say something. Since Andre isn’t sure what to say, he doesn’t. “I understand if you don’t like that.”

“Nate Dogg, you’re a sap.”

Nate pauses and blinks a couple times. “I, well- I didn’t-”

“I like you too. I hang on you how much, of course I like you.”

“Oh,” he breathes out.

“You’re still a sap, but that isn’t a bad thing.”

“You aren’t upset?”

“Am I a rebound?”

“No. I do genuinely like you. And you aren’t afraid to just knock me to the ice either.”

“No, I am not.” Andre is quiet for a moment before softly smiling. “Nate has a soft heart,” he whispers. He tries to wiggle the arm that’s under Nate, but gives up pretty easily. So instead, he brings his other arm across his body to touch Nate’s chest. “You keep that soft heart protected by Ice Nate.”

“Ice Nate?”

“Oh yeah. That’s what your on ice persona is. Fierce, focused, frozen, flashy, uh… Some other words that begin with f. But also the harsh game face. Or how you always find the mistakes even if overall you do really well.” Andre pauses. “I didn’t really know there was a difference until we got coffee that one time. So this Nate, the one I see right now, I call him Coffee Nate.”

“Coffee Nate,” he repeats.

“Yeah, Coffee Nate is more warmed up. He shows a personality. He can be sweet and joke around. He can even smile! Oh, I guess to make them Even. He’s sweet, smiles, smart, soft, sss-kind, s-”

“Ss-kind is not a word.”

“Is too.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Is! Too!”

But Nate doesn’t gently argue back. He moves close to Andre and sweetly kisses him. For the first time, they kiss. Andre’s eyes had fallen shut at some point and he pauses when he realizes that Nate’s lips are on his own. When he’s senses come back, he returns the kiss.

Slowly, Nate pulls back. Both of their eyes slowly open. But Andre can feel a jump in his chest, a flutter that wasn’t there before. His mouth slightly parted as he stares at Nate. Nate moves to lie back down next to Andre.

Andre licks over his lips, a faint taste of Nate on them. “Sweet,” he whispers.

He stares at Nate until Nate finally looks back at him. They stare for a while until Andre can’t stand this anymore. The flutter, the warmth, the increased heart rate. Where it all came from, he doesn’t know. He wants more, he needs more. More Nate, more now. Right now.

Andre jerks his arm and part of his leg out from under Nate so he can move to straddle him. Nate looks up at him, this time his mouth slack. His hands rest on Andre’s hips and that’s all Andre needs before he starts grinding down onto Nate. The friction isn’t enough, the movement isn’t enough. He wants more. More more more.

He leans down to kiss at Nate and as best as Nate can, he kisses Andre back. The kisses miss each of their mouths but end up landing close enough. It’s sloppy, it’s constant, it’s inconsistent. It isn’t enough either. More of everything. He needs it.

He tries to pull his shirt off with surprisingly little issue, the whole while, his hips moving on top of Nate’s. Nate holding Andre’s hips, but since the shirt is off, Nate’s hands go wandering. It’s all not enough but just enough at the same time.

They press, they grind, they kiss, they pull, they breathe. It’s a primal feeling, until finally a release followed by a second. They ride it out together and wrap their arms around each other. Both breathing heavy, Andre resting against Nate’s chest.

After a few long, quiet moments, Andre lifts his head to look at Nate. “Sweaty,” he mumbles.

“Shh,” Nate brings his hand up to cover Andre’s face.

But Andre can’t stay quiet for too long. “Next time, no clothes for either of us.”

“Next time, your bed.”

*****


End file.
